Digital Touchpoints (Issue #2, Spring 2025)

Abstract

What does it mean to teach and learn in these contemporary times, considering the ubiquity of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI)? Does it make sense anymore for students to memorize state capitals? Or is a student’s ability to independently acquire knowledge and information in real time, precisely when they need it, and construct new understandings, representations, communication, innovations, and solutions what really matters now? And how does the increasing uptake of AI tools across all sectors complicate how educators teach and assess students with integrity and efficacy? Undergraduate teacher education students in Dr. Aaron R. Gierhart’s “Educational Technology” class were asked to consider the growing ubiquity of digital technologies and impacts on what it truly means for teachers to teach and for students to learn. Issue #2 of Digital Touchpoints features 21 students’ reviews of current literature on contemporary teaching and learning, both with and amongst digital technologies. This issue is organized in two thematic sections: “Proceed” and “Caution,” highlighting affordances and constraints of digital technologies on teaching and learning in contemporary educational settings.